


dragging

by himemiyaa



Series: taz: balance [6]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Childhood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 03:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13355688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himemiyaa/pseuds/himemiyaa
Summary: lup picks up a bag and won't tell taako what's in it.





	dragging

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted from my [tumblr,](traumataako.tumblr.com) requested by anonymous! the prompt was "can you please stop dragging that around" with taako and lup.

They’ve left another caravan. Their feet are blistered and their backs are sore, Lup’s especially, considering the duffel bag she stole from an older elf on their way out. It’s ugly, big and dusty, and Taako doesn’t get why she’s so obsessed with it.

It’s been two days since they left, traveling under cover of night to avoid being found. They’re about another day from the nearest city, and as the suns rise over the forest they collapse in a grove, exhausted. Lup shoves the bag behind her, resting on it like a big pillow. Taako doesn’t think it looks very comfortable. It’s lumpy, the bag, and it clanks as they walk. Still, it’s big enough for both of them to rest their heads there, so he moves to Lup’s side, gently shoving her out of the way so that they can both lean on it.

“What’s in the bag?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she replies.

* * *

They make it to the city and they keep to the alleys, and Lup keeps dragging the bag around. Taako assumes at this point that it’s full of things to pawn off for a quick buck. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done something like that. When they were with a circus they left with pockets full of sparkling costume jewelry, most of which they managed to convince people was worth much more than it actually was. They kept two things: a pendant that rests around Lup’s neck and a bracelet that never leaves Taako’s wrist.

Lup’s hands are blistering and then burst from carrying the bag around, and Taako wraps them in scraps of fabric scavenged from behind a clinic. Still, she refuses to let it drop, refuses to sell whatever’s inside.

“What’s in the bag?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she replies.

* * *

Two weeks later and Lup is still carrying the duffel bag. The clanking is getting under Taako’s skin, but more than that, he can’t stand how secretive she’s being. It’s not like Lup. They tell each other everything.

She nearly trips over it, walking along the dirt road one day. Taako wheels around and stares at her.

“Can you, like, stop dragging that fuckin’ bag around, Lup? It’s getting ridiculous.”

Lup pouts. “You’re just mad I won’t tell you what’s in here,” she says.

“Yeah, no shit, Lulu.”

“You’ll find out soon,” she says, her voice equal parts soothing and goading. Taako doesn’t know how she manages.

* * *

It’s not until they make a few bucks a few towns later that Taako gets to find out what’s in the bag. They do some pickpocketing and even some honest work, and for the first time since they left the caravan, they have enough money for a decent meal. They spend most of it on food, on a chicken and a few vegetables and a loaf of bread, and they take it past the boundaries of the town into a clearing. Lup starts a fire. She’s gotten so good at that, at evocation, at controlled little burns and wild blazes, too.

“Hey, get in that bag,” she says, and Taako blinks. He doesn’t hesitate, though. Curiosity has been overwhelming him for weeks now, and he tears into the bag excitedly.

It’s full of cookware. Decent cookware. Some of it is a little bent or scratched, but it’s not beyond repair. Taako blinks.

“I know you miss cooking when we’re out here like this,” she says. Taako blinks again.

“Lup, we don’t ever have enough food to use all this.”

“Yeah, it was an impulse purchase,” she says nonchalantly. “And besides. We do tonight. We can sell it tomorrow if you want.”

“No,” Taako says quickly, greedily. “We can’t.”

Lup grins.

“But you have to let me carry it sometimes. Shit.”


End file.
